Welcome

Thoughts on fitness, health, good nutrition ... and running.

Welcome to Bald Man Running, a blog launched by Frank Murphy on January 1, 2015.

In March, 2013 I was selected as a contestant for the sixth season of Fort Wayne's Smallest Winner. Through this amazing program, I learned about good nutrition, sound exercise and accountability. By October, I would lose over 88 pounds (almost 37% of my original weight)! One of the many things I acquired through FWSW was a love for running. You can retrace my weight loss journey and discover how I became a runner by reading those entries labeled "fwsw" ...

Note: Many of the blog entries on this website predate 1/1/2015. Prior to launching BMR, I had written articles for various projects, and I have imported many of them into this blog (labeled "retro").

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

HRM

Blog entry of amazingness is just around the corner ... I keep teasing it, because if I don't I'm afraid that my mouth might seize up.

Yesterday, I got a really cool gift: a heart rate monitor watch. It's from a friend at work. His whole family is quite athletic ... to the point that their annual family get-together includes a "family 5k." Two months ago, I would have said there's something wrong with a family that chooses to run when they could do anything else but run. But after a few months of FWSW, I've got to say that I'm starting to see the appeal of such a tradition. Running feels good ... and if I were in a family 5k of my own and I beat my younger brother ... well let's just say he would never live it down. Baldy (that's what we called him when he was little), consider the gauntlet thrown.

The HRM (that's what running vets like myself call "heart rate monitor" devices) comes with a strap you have to wear across your chest so that you get accurate measurements. I'm going to guess that it's kind of like wearing a really thin bra. Mind you, I said it's a guess, because I have no relevant bra wearing experience to know for sure.

In addition to it's fitness value, the watch is a nice fashion statement ... and I'm all about fashion. When I wear it, it says to outside world that I am a lithe, sleek athlete (my wife's words). I also like looking down at it to see what my heart is doing, even when I'm not working out. Sometimes my heart rate goes up a little when I really efficient SQL query.

Sometimes I talk into it pretending that I'm Dick Tracy. Nobody has talked back to me ... yet, but one day I just might get Junior to actually answer me. Wouldn't that be sweet?

Cool gifts are cool, but cool friends are better. They've been encouraging and supportive throughout my whole FWSW journey. I know I'm a fortunate man.